T-Birds 3rd in Invite

Tuesday

Sep 4, 2012 at 9:09 AMSep 4, 2012 at 9:14 AM

You'd think hosting your own tournament, you could figure out a way not to face a defending state champion in the opening round.However, that's just what the Skyline Thunderbirds had to do in their Invitational held Saturday at Skyline and Pratt Community College.

Neil DePew

You'd think hosting your own tournament, you could figure out a way not to face a defending state champion in the opening round.However, that's just what the Skyline Thunderbirds had to do in their Invitational held Saturday at Skyline and Pratt Community College. The T-Birds found themselves in the Thunderdome pool facing St. John first thing in the morning. The Skyliners took the Tigers to three games before falling to the defending 1A champs.The scores were 25-22; 19-25; 23-25. After that rude wake-up call, the Lady T-Birds were able to dispatch their other pool opponents with relative ease. Pawnee Heights fell 25-16, 25-20 to Skyline. Hodgeman County then accepted a 25-9, 25-20 beating from the T-Birds before packing up and heading home.The top 2 teams from each pool advanced to bracket play in the Thunderdome. As the #2 seed from the Thunderdome pool, Skyline had to face the #1 seed from the PCC pool, Pratt High.PHS prevailed in both games by identical 17-25 counts. The match between the local rivals was a scrappy one, but PHS advanced to the championship matchup against St. John while Skyline dropped to play Pretty Prairie in the consolation game.Skyline took third in the tourney by dropping the Bulldogs 25-14 and 25-22.